A vast number of cleaning materials have long been known which have potential application to the problem of the cleaning of objects and environments presenting a hard surface. Such objects and environments include wooden floors; floors covered with tile, linoleum or an equivalent covering; kitchen cabinets and other storage items, fixed or free standing; appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, microwave ovens and the like; and furniture, such as tables, sideboards and the like. Known cleaning materials for use in cleaning such objects and environments range from natural soaps and detergents to more complex synthetic cleaning compositions. Known cleaning compositions may range from very mild furniture cleaners, to mild yet effective wax strippers, to harsh, powerful degreasers. In most instances, such compositions broadly comprise a surfactant system for soil penetration, loosening and emulsification, along with appropriate coupling agents and performance modifiers. In the case of degreasers, for example, solvents of various types may be used, including glycol ethers, petroleum solvents, glycols and/or alcohols. A mild product, in contrast, must usually avoid the use of strong solvents and lower molecular weight glycol ethers, while a wax stripper will include significant quantities of light amine and stronger glycol ethers.
Cleaning materials effective for use in household applications for cleaning hard surfaces, present specific problems relating both to convenience and simplicity of the use of the material and to its required performance and safety characteristics. The required performance characteristics also vary depending upon the inherent characteristics of the surface to be cleaned. Securing a cleaning material which provides the combination of convenience and simplicity of use, with the required performance and safety characteristics, has long been a desired objective which has often met with little success.
Broadly known household cleaning compositions generally consist of a non-ionic surfactant system (ethoxylated alcohols, amides and the like), alkaline builders (sodium carbonate, phosphates, silicates and the like), glycol ethers (ethylene, propylene, diethylene, and dipropylene glycol type ethers) and possibly a chelant (EDTA, citrate and the like).
Generally, for broad use and effectiveness, a cleaning composition must be chemically neutral to the surface which is being cleaned, and otherwise cause no adverse reaction or effect on said surface. This is a particular problem where a substantially solvent-based system is used in connection with a plastic, wood or composite surface, while the cleaning of metal or porcelain-coated metal surfaces may also be adversely affected if cleaned with a substantially alkaline system. These adverse effects can include dulling, scarring or streaking of the surface, or the dissolving of all or a portion of the surface, causing substantial and irreparable damage.
Even if chemically neutral, or effectively neutral to the surface being cleaned, a cleaning composition may dull the shine or gloss that the surface inherently possesses. Materials such as acrylic surfaces, laminated surfaces (bearing Formica brand or an equivalent laminate) and certain metal surfaces, either inherently or by prior treatment, display a desired gloss or shine when clean. It is the function of an effective cleaning composition for such a surface to remove grease, dirt and other deleterious substances, thereby cleaning the surface and restoring the inherent shine or gloss that the surface possesses when clean.
Conversely, a number of surfaces, either inherently or by design, present a dull or matte surface when clean. It is the function of an effective cleaning composition for such a surface to remove grease, dirt and other deleterious substances, thereby cleaning the surface, without imparting a gloss or shine to the surface when clean.
No known cleaning composition useful for the cleaning of hard surfaces, as described, presents the property of cleaning an inherently shiny or glossy surface, while restoring that shine or gloss, yet, when applied to clean an inherently dull or matte surface, cleans that surface without imparting undesired shine or gloss.
Cleaning compositions useful for household applications in cleaning hard surfaces must also display a number of other often conflicting properties and characteristics. In most instances, they should preferably be spray on/wipe off type cleaners. Because of the danger, undesirable odor and harshness, substantially non-aqueous solvent based compositions are undesirable, particularly all non-aqueous, strong organic solvent-based systems. Cleaning compositions must also be stable in storage and in use--no clouding, separation or precipitation of component materials from solution should occur. Of course, the cleaning composition must provide adequate cleaning function to clean and remove a variety of grease, dirt, carbonaceous soils, marking materials or ink, and other deleterious materials, particularly greasy and oily materials, encountered in a household environment from the surfaces described above. That cleaning must occur, however, without the composition streaking or otherwise leaving a film upon the cleaned surface. Of course, the composition must not possess an unpleasant or unacceptable odor--such as a heavy cleaner or detergent odor --either in use or upon the cleaned surface. If the product is sprayable, one must assume the probability of spray splattering into the user's eyes, and the product's causation of eye irritation must be negated or minimized as much as possible.
Particularly desirable in a cleaning composition for household applications in cleaning hard surface is the ability to formulate the composition in a variety of concentrations. A concentrated non-aqueous version of the composition may be desired for certain applications, while a more dilute, substantially milder, sprayable version of the composition may be desired for other applications. A sprayable composition, if water or substantially aqueous based, must not be too thin or runny, which will result in a scattered, messy and very unsatisfactory result, with the composition running off a vertical surface too quickly for cleaning to be carried out. If it is too thick or viscuous, however, a well-dispersed spray will be substantially impossible to secure and the composition will be substantially difficult to wipe off without leaving excessive residues--another undesired situation.
The known cleaning compositions do not present the desired combination of characteristics and performance properties described. There has long been an unfilled need for a cleaning composition, having particular efficacy in household applications, having the following optimum combination of charcteristics:
1. The ability to clean hard surfaces of a variety of materials encountered in a household environment, including but not limited to grease, dirt, carbonaceous soils, marking material or ink, and the like, without leaving a film or streaking the cleaned surface;
2. The ability to provide said cleaning action without deleterious effect on said hard surface, even if that surface comprises a finished wood having a varnished, sealed or painted surface, or a plastic material;
3. The ability to clean a hard surface, whereby a gloss or shine is imparted or restored only if said surface initially presented a gloss or shine when clean, but not to impart a gloss or shine if said surface initially presented a dull or matte surface when clean;
4. The ability to formulate said composition in a variety of viscosities ranging from a high strength concentrated version to a mild, substantially liquid (in water or a substantially aqueous carrier), sprayable version which has sufficient spray characteristics to avoid running off a vertical surface before cleaning can be accomplished; and
5. Lack of any objectionable odor.
No heretofore known cleaning composition provides this optimum combination of properties, which are particularly efficacious for household cleaning applications.